Transparent glass containing solar cells could capture enough energy to power a home

Professor John Bell said QUT had
worked with a Canberra-based company Dyesol, which is developing
transparent solar cells that act as both windows and energy generators
in houses or commercial buildings.

He said the solar cell
glass would make a significant difference to home and building owners'
energy costs and could in fact generate excess energy that could be
stored on onsold.

Professor Bell said the glass was one of a
number of practical technologies that would help combat global warming
which was a focus of research at the ISR.

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"The transparent solar cells have a faint reddish hue but are completely see-through," Professor Bell said.

The
glass captures solar energy which can be used to power the house but
can also reduce overheating of the house, reducing the need for
cooling.

Professor Bell said it would be possible to build houses made entirely of the transparent solar cells.

"As
long as a house is designed throughout for energy efficiency, with
low-energy appliances it is conceivable it could be self-sustaining in
its power requirements using the solar-cell glass," he said.

Australian housing design tends to encourage high energy use because electricity is so cheap.

But it is easy to build a house that doesn't need powered cooling or heating in Queensland.

Professor
Bell said the solar cell glass was the subject of two Australian
Research Council Linkage grants to QUT researchers to investigate ways
to increase its energy absorption and to reduce the effects of "shadowing", where overcast skies and shadwos from trees or other
buildings can cause loss of collected power.